World Youth Day (WYD) is a worldwide encounter with the Pope that happens every three years.
Laus Deo! To God be the glory! Despite limited resources, the Philippines sends more than 1,000 youth, accompanied by a number of bishops and priests, to the World Youth Day (WYD) in Lisbon, Portugal on Aug. 1 to 6.
And I ended my conversation with Most Rev. Rex Andrew Alarcon, Bishop of Daet, Love our Pope Movement (LOPM) Bishop Advisor, and Chairman of the CBCP Episcopal Commission on Youth (ECY) with the usual assurance of prayers and best wishes for the Philippine delegation.
Indeed, the meeting with the Pope and social encounter, cum spiritual renewal, with other young people from every corner of the globe will be a unique, special, and unforgettable experience for everyone. I have no doubt about it and Bishop Alarcon was as excited!
As the Portuguese Vatican official Fr. João Chagas, the coordinator responsible for the World Youth Day (WYD), has told us, the young people’s excitement in Lisbon will be “a spiritually transformative event.”
Days ago, Bishop Alarcon, after celebrating a solemn Mass in Antipolo, formally sent off the young Filipino delegates. Moreover, the CBCP Episcopal Commission on Indigenous Peoples (ECIP) sent a number of its own delegates (katutubo) to Portugal, led by Bishop Severo Caermare of Dipolog, the ECIP vice chairman.
World Youth Day (WYD) is a worldwide encounter with the Pope that happens every three years. In 1995, it was celebrated in Manila and this year it is in Lisbon, Portugal. The last World Youth Day was held in Panama City, Panama, in 2019.
Love Our Pope Movement (LOPM) couple convenors from Porto City, Portugal, Dr. Pedro Gabriel and Claire will meet up with some Filipino priests and young delegates in Lisbon, LOPM being an international movement of global Catholics who join forces to declare their love, support and fervent prayers for the Holy Father.
The Pope was late: World Youth Day (WYD) 1995 in Manila
What everyone remembers of the WYD in Manila is this, that Pope St. John Paul II was late! But it was the second-largest papal gathering in history and was the second time that the saintly Polish pontiff visited the Philippines. The first one happened in 1981, the main event of his visit was to beatify Lorenzo Ruiz, the first Filipino canonized saint.
I also remember Veteran radio journalist Fr. Leonido C. Dolor of the Archdiocese of Lipa serving as emcee. He was part of the big bulk of media personalities covering the International Youth Forum at the University of Sto. Tomas and the closing Holy Mass at Rizal Park. Another good friend, Lenita Caparas Parto, was one of those in-charge of the TV coverage of GMA 7.
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The closing Mass, held at Rizal Park, was attended by more than 5 million people, and is reckoned as the second-largest papal gathering in history. This record was surpassed when a mammoth crowd of more than 7 million Filipinos, with visitors from Asia, attended the closing Holy Eucharist celebration led by Pope Francis twenty years later in 2015.
January 15, 1995. The last day was overwhelming and Archbishop John P. Foley, President, Pontifical Council for Social Communications told the story.
In Rome, a year after the 1995 WYD in Manila, the Holy Father was keen to know the performances and challenges the various departments of the Holy See encountered by inviting the top Vatican officials to lunch. On one such occasion, he asked: “What is the most difficult telecast you ever did?”
I responded, “Holy Father, it was your World Youth Day (at the Rizal Park) in the Philippines in 1995.”
“Why?” he asked.
I said, “Chiefly because you were an hour and a half late because of the crowds which made it impossible for you to arrive in your popemobile.”
He smiled and asked: “What did you talk about?”
I responded, “First, I gave the history of the World Youth Day; then I gave the history of the Catholic Church in the Philippines; then I gave the history of the Church.”
The Pope laughed, and then I said, “But that’s not all. At the end of the Mass, you ‘ad libbed’ – first in English; then in Spanish, which had been the language in the Philippines, and I could translate that; then in Italian, because you saw a large group of Italians, and I could translate that.
Then you saw the flag from Bosnia-Herzegovina, and you ‘ad libbed’ in Serbo-Croatian – and I was lost… [taken from Foley, “From Language to Language” in John Paul II: A Light for the World].
World Youth Day 1995 in Manila, Philippines, was the first time for an Asian country to host the event. The official song for this special occasion was released in 1994, carrying a lovely title, “Tell the World of His Love,” composed by Trina Belamide. Every Catholic child, youth, and elderly had memorized the song, repeatedly played in the tri-media.
January 15 was a lovely Sunday afternoon in Manila. It was the most unforgettable eve of a departure and the Vicar of Christ was scheduled to celebrate his last Pontifical Mass with the faithful. Anyhow, the crowd along the road was awe-inspiring, overwhelming, and increasingly growing by the hour.
Papal Nuncio’s Plan A was this: Travel by land. But the popemobile got stuck, unable to move an inch, once it left the Apostolic Nunciature at Taft Avenue in Manila.
Time was ticking and it was a good thing that Plan B was in place. The Polish pontiff’s entourage made a detour, arrived at Malacañang Park, and was forced to ride the presidential helicopter along with Cardinal Sin and Papal Nuncio Gian Vincenzo Moreni to get to Quirino Grandstand, where an enormous crowd, a veritable sea of humanity, was waiting since the light of dawn.
The grand finale of the Papal Pilgrimage of 1995, the closing Mass, held at Luneta Park, was estimated to have been attended by more than 5 million people, the second-largest papal gathering in history.
The Greek εὐχαριστία, Eucharistia, means gratitude and, in this special case in 1995, it means a euphoric thanksgiving to God above for the heavenly blessings the Filipino people have received from heaven through His Vicar on Earth, particularly the 500 Years of Christianity.
The message of John Paul II in 1995 during the International Youth Forum at my alma mater, the University of Santo Tomas, never changed. The great pontiff said:
“It is always Christ who sends. But whom does he send? You, young people, are the ones he looks upon with love. Christ, who says: ‘Follow me,’ wants you to live your lives with a sense of vocation. He wants your lives to have a precise meaning and dignity.”
According to Pope Francis, the Philippines is “a noble Catholic nation,” and our noble Catholic nation has earned two world records: the first and second biggest papal gatherings in history.
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José Mario Bautista Maximiano is the Lead Convenor of the Love Our Pope Movement (LOPM) and the author of “Church Reforms – Semper Purificanda” Volume One (Claretian, 2023) and the author of “MCMLXXII: 500-Taong Kristiyano” Volume Two (Claretian, 2021), declared the “Best Book in Ministry” during the 16th Cardinal Sin Catholic Book Awards 2022.
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